Ford makes some great vehicles in Europe. And finally, they are coming over here. Specifically, I am talking about the fantastic Mondeo (one of the best sedans in the world), the Fiesta (one of the best small cars in the world - and a global bestseller for years), the C-Max (upsized tall wagon fiesta), and the Transit (delivery van).

They *should* all be making their way to the US. The first will be the Fiesta, which you should take a look at because, compared to every other small car out there, it looks good. Damn good. And gets 40mpg. And drives well. And had the best car review in the history of car reviews courtesy of Top Gear (getting chased through a mall by a Corvette, participating in a beach landing with the marines, fitting a zebra head in the trunk, etc.)

And now I will tell you why I will never, ever buy one. It comes with a nice little engine with an estimated 119 horsepower and 109 ft.-lbs. of torque. Ok, not a lot, but this is a little fuel efficient kind of car. The killer? They will not offer a manual transmission. This is not a good thing, and a very worrying sign for the US auto market. If a hot hatch can't be had with a manual, what can? Pretty soon I think we are going to be looking at manuals coming only on Subarus and base Audis and BWMs. We get the one on the right, the one on the left is Euro only. Fail.